A majority of Americans believe that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election would have been the same regardless of a cyber and disinformation campaign waged by Russia, new polling shows.
The new data comes three days before Donald Trump will be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Over the weekend, Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.), a civil rights icon, stirred controversy by saying that Moscow's alleged interference in the election makes Trump an illegitimate president.
However, 58 percent of U.S. adults believe that the outcome of the presidential election would have been the same regardless of the information released as a result of Russia's hacking campaign, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday morning. A lesser 40 percent believe that the information released as a result of the cyber attacks "was significant enough to change the outcome of the election."
The U.S. intelligence community formally accused Russia of directing cyber attacks on systems used by Americans and U.S. political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, in October. Emails from DNC employees, as well as those from the personal inbox of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, were published on the website WikiLeaks ahead of the presidential election.
Following a comprehensive investigation, intelligence officials released an unclassified report earlier this month concluding that Russia waged a multifaceted campaign to undermine American democracy and damage Clinton.
During an appearance on NBC over the weekend, Lewis told host Chuck Todd that it would be "very difficult" for him to cultivate a relationship with Trump.
"I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president," Lewis said. The Democrat has said he will not attend Friday's inauguration.
A growing list of over 50 Democratic lawmakers have similarly pledged not to attend Trump's inauguration.
Trump responded by describing Lewis' complaints as "false" and urging the congressman to "spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape."